Following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' hiring of Greg Schiano as head coach, the focus clicked ahead to who he would hire as his coordinators. On offense, some imagined that he would target Arizona Cardinals wide receivers coach John McNulty, who'd served as his OC at Rutgers from 2004 to 2008. By Friday, it was reported that the Bucs had asked permission from the Cards to speak with McNulty.

As Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic reports, permission to speak with McNulty has been denied. [Editor's note: No word yet on whether the Bucs will reach out to Bunk instead].

All hope is not lost, of course, as a number of sharp offensive minds remain jobless. That list includes former Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson, former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley and former Miami Dolphins OC Brian Daboll.

In spite of the fact that the Arizona Cardinals told the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that they may not interview Cards WRs coach John McNulty for the vacant OC position in Tampa, Greg Schiano is apparently not willing to take "no" for an answer.

According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs are working behind the scenes to get their hands on McNulty, and this may include appealing directly to Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell, per sources.

It almost goes without saying, but given the importance of this hire for the defensive-oriented Schiano, it would appear that he's willing to go the proverbial extra mile to try and get the right candidate for the position.

- Tim Kavanagh

And here's another update on the Bucs offseason plans:

Quote:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first priority this offseason was finding a new head coach to replace Raheem Morris. As of last week, that task has been completed, with former Rutgers boss Greg Schiano tasked with taking over the proverbial pirate ship. Next item on the list is filling out Schiano's staff, something which may be difficult given how late we are in the process -- and how many potential coordinators and position coaches have already signed on elsewhere. Following that, we'll have free agency and then the draft.

The Bucs have taken some heat recently from certain portions of their fanbase for sitting on the sidelines of free agency as other teams dole out big deals for top players. GM Mark Dominik's recent comments, then, should be encouraging to these individuals.

"We understand we're not a finished product," Dominik acknowledged, per the Tampa Bay Times. "I know that there's things we need to address on this team and I know that we'll do it in all capacities. We're going to do it in free agency. I don't want people to be worried that we're not going to spend in free agency. We'll be involved."